The Contenders
Luke Cage Season 1, Episode 3 – “Who’s Gonna Take the Weight”
Note: For Netflix shows, I'll do 2 episodes a week from when it first drops. Seems the fairest way to do it I think!
Starring: Mike Colter, Mahershala Ali, Simone Missick and Alfre Woodard
Guest Starring: Frank Whaley, Ron Cephas Jones, Jacob Vargas, Brian ‘Sene’ Marc, Jaiden Kaine, Jade Wu, Sedly Bloomfield, Dawn-Lyen Gardner
Written by: Matt Owens
Directed by: Guillermo Navarro
Luke Cage goes on the offensive in this episode, and shows off his Avenger-level powers with a rather stunning sequence (unfortunately spoiled in trailers a bit) of knocking out bad guys (without killing them, somehow, as concussion doesn’t exist in TV/Movies). Director Guillermo Navarro was on point this episode, and I’d say his work should get recognised come award show time, but Marvel never does well in those things!
The other big twist being Frank Whaley’s Detective Scarfe being a traitor. He was set up as a buffoon, so I think this would have fooled some people, but not all.
I try not to give an episode a higher rating because of a surprise ending – it is a pet peeve of mine when reviewers over inflate an episode’s score because an otherwise boring episode had a shock conclusion – but this wasn’t a boring episode, and Cottonmouth’s rocket launch gave me a huge geeky grin.
Final Rating: 8.7
Luke Cage Season 1, Episode 4 – “Step in the Arena”
Note: For Netflix shows, I'll do 2 episodes a week from when it first drops. Seems the fairest way to do it I think!
Starring: Mike Colter, Simone Missick, Theo Rossi
Guest Starring: Frank Whaley, Parisa Fitz-Henley, Chance Kelly, Craig muMs Grant, Michael Kostroff, Thomas Q. Jones, Jade Wu, Clem Cheung, Manny Perez, Marston Fobbs
Written by: Charles Murray
Directed by: Vincenzo Natali
Another solid episode, and this time we get to see a proper origin story! Something that was really only told in bits and pieces in both Daredevil and Jessica Jones. However, I kind of felt the origin story a little lacking and a bit too straight-laced. Although the origin story is setting up things to come, and I appreciate the effort to give Luke Cage his original look, it felt a little forced to me.
Still a very good episode (again), as the show demonstrates a surprising amount of versatility.
Final Rating: 7.9
Gotham Season 3, Episode 3 – “Mad City: Look Into My Eyes”
Starring: Ben McKenzie, Donal Logue, David Mazouz, Morena Baccarin, Sean Pertwee, Robin Lord Taylor, Erin Richards, Camren Bicondova, Cory Michael Smith, Jessica Lucas, Drew Powell, Benedict Samuel and Michael Chiklis
Guest Starring: John Doman, Richard Kind, James Carpinello, Naian Gonzalez Norvind with Jamie Chung
Written by: Danny Cannon
Directed by: Rob Bailey
I wasn’t a huge fan of this one. It wasn’t terrible, Benedict Samuel’s Mad Hatter (who I’m surprised is listed as a regular, I guess he is here to stay – must’ve missed the memo) had a strong enough presence, but overall I felt we didn’t have much stakes. Did anyone really believe Jim Gordon was in danger? Both Gordon and Bullock didn’t have much to do this episode, and it hurt the show. Bullock in particular has been underused since season 1, and Donal Logue deserves more in my opinion.
I dislike the ‘Stranger’ storyline with Bruce’s doppelganger. It is very predictable, and still makes me cringe every time. I’m just not sure what the point of this story is, and I hope it becomes clear fast.
Usually I hate when a character on a TV show runs for Mayor (looking at you Oliver Queen), but in Penguin’s case, this could be fun! I enjoyed the silliness of everyone in the restaurant doing the Mexican stand-off. Good to see Falcone back, but I don’t hold much hope with the Leslie-Jim-Falcone junior-Vale love quadrangle.
Final Rating: A somewhat generous 7.2
The Flash Season 3, Episode 1 – “Flashpoint”
Starring: Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Danielle Panabaker, Carlos Valdes, Keiynan Lonsdale and Jesse L. Martin
Guest Starring: Matt Letscher, Alex Desert, Michelle Harrison, Todd Lasance and John Wesley Shipp
Written by: Andrew Kreisberg, Brooke Roberts, Greg Berlanti
Directed by: Jesse Warn
Ok. The Flash can be and is a great show. And yes, adaptations don’t need to be exactly like its name sake from the comic books.
… But this was disappointing, and harked back to the bad old days of TV. When shows would end a season on a cliff hanger and it is resolved by the very next episode with very little consequence. This corner of DC has 4 weekly TV shows now, and they had an almost unprecedented chance to do something special with an event like this. I can forgive them for not having something on The Flash impact the other shows (though it still might), but it should have had at least lasting consequences on The Flash and not just revert to more-or-less the status quo by the end of the episode. Yes, they’ve hinted that everything isn’t the same, because two characters are now having an argument, but they pressed the magic reset button.
Rich Cisco, underused Caitlin, no Tom Cavanaugh… Really it was only Candice Patton’s Iris that was the highlight. We had a fair share of thrills, and Barry again had to be inspired before he defeated the bad guy. I didn’t hate the episode, it was just disappointing.
Final Rating: 6.6
Arrow Season 5, Episode 1 – “Legacy”
Starring: Stephen Amell, David Ramsey, Willa Holland, Emily Bett Rickards, Echo Kellum and Paul Blackthorne
Guest Starring: Katie Cassidy, Alexander Calvert, Rick Gonzalez, Chad L. Coleman, Tyler Ritter, Mike Dopud, Adrian Holmes, David Nykl
Written by: Marc Guggenheim, Wendy Mericle, Greg Berlanti
Directed by: James Bamford
Oliver is a pyschopath. I mean this. You can't just go from 'hey killing people is fine' to 'killing is never the answer' to 'killing is fine now cos I said so'. This guy is unstable, and needs to be stopped. But that wasn't really touched on this episode, and Thea's reaction was negative, but in the way a vegetarian looks a meateater. If she really felt it was bad, she'd turn him in. Sigh.
But the episode? That was pretty solid I thought. Maybe it was my very low expectations, but was pleasantly surprised at the set up for the episode. The Direction was on point, and although the SFX struggled at times, the action scenes and fight choreography were VERY good. I hope they didn't spend all the budget on episode 1, because more helicopter scenes please.
The flashbacks? So far better than season 4, but the 10 second flashbacks need to stop. They are abrupt, unnecessary and break the flow of the show. A couple of new additions to the cast (I like David Nykl, reminds me of his Stargate days).
Final Rating: 7.8 - Same old errors at time, and the Mayor storyline is not something I like.
The Winner
Luke Cage's 3rd episode "Who’s Gonna Take the Weight" I think was the best of the 5 episodes above, highlighted by the epic rocket launcher twist at the end. Marvel 3-peats.
The Honour Board
(Week ending)
23-Sep: "The Ghost" Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
30-Sep: "Code of the Streets" Luke Cage
07-Oct: "Who's Gonna Take the Weight" Luke Cage